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Schlagwort: ESA

  • XR in Space – Augmented Reality for Astronauts on the Moon with Leonie Bensch
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    Thomas Riedel
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    Leonie Bensch

    This is the ignite episode of „XR in Space“, a Spatial Realities podcast-special.

    Imagine a shadow so black, it could be a hole. And if you drop something into it, it’s practical gone.

    That’s a realistic scenario for future moon missions. As the moon has no atmosphere, light is not dispersed nor weekend at air molecules leading to brutal light conditions you can not imagine as an earthling. Starting 2030 we build the Artemis moon base from where we might conduct complex missions not only on the surface of the moon itself but also to start our journey to Mars.

    And so that astronauts do not step into a shadow which is actually a hole in the ground, stumble and damage their spacesuit or instruments, an augmented reality interface could be helpful.

    Leonie Bensch, Doctoral Candidate at the European Space Agency, researches exactly that. In her research she develops AR scenarios in Virtual Reality (VR) to test designs and gather feedback before developing costly physical prototypes. For Example she examines how a grid might help to understand the topographical feature of the moon surface or how far an object is away. No easy task as safety and reliability has top priority in space.

    Leonie is not only a researcher at ESA. As one of three conference chairs she organized the Space CHI 4.0 conference which took place June 23-24, 2025 at the European Astronaut Center in Cologne. This podcast-special was mainly inspired by that conference, as there were many inspiring talks and keynotes and even two ESA Astronauts taking part.

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    XR in Space Episode:

    XR in Space – Immersive Tech for Space Simulators with Pale Blue CEO Felix Gorbatsevich

  • XR in Space – Immersive Tech for Space Simulators with Pale Blue CEO Felix Gorbatsevich
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    Thomas Riedel
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    Thomas Bedenk

    This Episode is part of the „XR in Space“ Series.

    There was one moment in Felix‘ keynote, where everybody was thinking the same: How can I get this insanely detailed model of the ISS onto my headset? No wonder that this was the first question asked after the keynote. And funnily enough it was even the question of co-host Thomas Bedenk, when Felix talks about the ISS model in this episode.

    The Keynote was hold at the Space CHI 4.0 Conference (→) back in June 23-24 at the European Astronaut Centre in Cologne. Our recording takes place a month later.

    Felix Gorbatsevich is the CEO and co-founder of the Norwegian company Pale Blue, which is specialized in simulation and training simulators for various industries, including human spaceflight and subsea operations. In this episode we are particularely discussing how they were involved in a couple of experiments involving parabolic flights. Felix explains how they used them to find out how XR headsets can work in zero gravity and micro gravity as well as scanning how astronauts actually move in Zero G on a space spation. These information were than used to make training on their virtual reality model of the ISS even more realistic.

    Pale Blue is particularly known for its highly detailed digital twin of the International Space Station (ISS), which models the station down to individual screws and stickers for realistic astronaut training. This simulator is crucial for helping astronauts become resilient to zero-gravity sickness by creating a disconnect between visual and physical sensation. Pale Blue also applies its simulation technology to validate new spacecraft designs, such as the Luna Gateway, and participates in the SpaceXR Consortium to develop robust XR solutions for actual space missions, including intra-vehicular (IVA) and extra-vehicular (EVA) activities.

    At the end of the episode Felix is asked to articulate his expert opinion about the XR industry, with over 10 years of experience. And how he thinks how XR and the space industry is connected.

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  • E080 – Pico 4 Ultra, Das Ende von Meta Spark AR, XR Hack und die Gamescom-Woche mit Spezialgast Christian Steiner
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    Thomas Riedel
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    Thomas Bedenk
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    Christian Steiner

    DER TALK

    Eine volle Gamescom-Woche liegt hinter uns. Und Thomas Riedel und Christian Steiner werden in diesem Spezialinterview diesmal von Thomas Bedenk interviewt. Die beiden haben nämlich zusammen nicht nur den XR Hack organisiert. Ein Hackathon, sponsored by Meta direkt vor der Gamescom und mit 12.500 Euro Preisgeld und bis zu 100.000 Dollar Investitionsmöglichkeit. Sie waren auch Teil einiger XR-Events während der Gamescom. Sie berichten von den Struggles einer Hackathon-Orga, wie sie es in 8 Wochen geschafft haben trotz Ferien 100 Hacker in den Kölner Startplatz zu locken, und welche Projekte ihnen am besten gefallen haben.

    DIE NEWS

    • Pico 4 Ultra
    • Meta Spark AR wird eingestellt

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